NATIONAL NEWS - To restructure Eskom – with its crushing debt, coal delivery problems, and history of corruption or not – was but one of a number of issues raised at a debate on the issue yesterday in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.
Energy Minister Jeff Radebe – under whom Eskom’s affairs fall – noted yesterday in Pretoria the energy department was “mandated to ensure and secure sustainable provision of energy for socioeconomic development”.
It doesn’t require someone with a doctorate in economics to explain to readers the department has failed miserably.
Rolling blackouts, nearly a third of the employable workforce on the streets, and a rand that seems unable to punch its way out of a wet paper bag are what the department has delivered so far.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of a new board coupled with the suspension/resignation has gone some way towards making the requisite changes to save an entity, which owes nearly a quarter of the nation’s debt of R2 trillion.
Speaking at the debate – organised by a perennial thorn in the side of Eskom EE Publishers Chris Yelland – in their private capacities were Frans Baleni (vice-chairperson of the Development Bank of Southern Africa), Nelisiwe Magubane (non-executive director of Eskom), and Dr Grové Steyn (a infrastructure and regulatory economist).
It was Baleni – also a former non-executive director at Eskom – who had to argue for keeping Eskom in situ, and he didn’t pull any punches when it came to perceived corruption at the entity.
